Matters of Scale - A Fate Worse than Debt

Amount of money spent by Western industrialized nations on weapons and
soldiers every 12 months

$422 billion

Amount raised by Live Aid in 1985 to combat famine in Ethiopia

$200 million

Amount all African countries pay back on foreign debts every week

$200 million

Amount the United Nations estimates is needed annually to curb the African AIDS epidemic through education, prevention, and care

$15.0 billion

Amount African nations pay to service their debts each year (amount paid just in interest)

$13.5 billion

Annual income per person in Zaire

$110

Amount each resident of Zaire would have to raise to pay off the country's debt to foreign creditors

$236

Percent of the Zambian budget allocated for foreign debt repayment in 1997

40 percent

Percent of the Zambian budget allocated for basic social services, including vaccinations
and education

7 percent

Percent of debt owed by the world's most heavily indebted nations that the World Bank
and International Monetary Fund can afford to cancel without jeopardizing their ability
to function, according to the London-based accounting firm Vellacott and Chaney